Sittingbourne defender Aaron Gough has been forced to quit the club – because his dad can’t give him a lift to the ground any more.

But the Brickies were set to land a replacement, with Ollie Gray poised to sign from Ramsgate.

Gough, pictured, had been travelling from his home in Sutton with dad Perry, who worked as first-team coach at Bourne Park before accepting a job with Chelsea. But the player doesn’t drive so Sittingbourne have reluctantly agreed to let him go.

Joint-boss Jim Ward said: "It’s a major loss because Aaron is a good player and he would only have got better by working with me and Danny (Ward, joint-boss)."

Gray is a player Ward knows well from his time in charge at Ramsgate and he was only too pleased to offer the versatile defender a chance after he fell out of favour at Southwood.

"In Ollie you get a good defender who can play centre-half or right-back and he’s also a nice lad. He knows he’ll have to fight for a shirt but he’ll be a good signing for us."

Brickies are without a game this weekend. They return to action with the visit of Tooting & Mitcham on November 17.